


Fail-Speak

by AnonEhouse



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Humor, Missing Scene, Word Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-13
Updated: 2014-11-13
Packaged: 2018-02-25 04:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2609297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/AnonEhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bonus Scene at the end of the first Avengers movie.  In which Thor's All-Speak can't really tell the difference between English and other Midgardian languages.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fail-Speak

**Author's Note:**

> This is the product of staying up past 5a.m. reading Untranslatable words- they can be defined in English, but not directly translated into a single word.
> 
> If you turn off Creator's style, you'll see all the definitions at once, which will be messy. If you leave it on, you can just mouse click over the gray bars to read them (or ignore them if you want to try to figure out what the words mean all on your own.)

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

The one who shared his life with an angry giant looked up blearily from the table in the battered little dining hall where Thor had gathered with his battle-mates as an act of taaroof Taarof (Persian) Accepting someone’s hospitality, particularly food and drink, but it also refers to showing the proper level of social respect in different situations. Thor would not have Midgardians think him an untutored barbarian, even though the food was strange. It was, at least, far better than the overly dry and far too sweet pastry known as 'Pop-Tarts'. Thor had been an aerekjær, but he was trying to overcome that fault. Aerekjær (Norwegian) Exceedingly proud.'The homeless man starved to death, he was too ærekjær for begging.'

"Where's Loki?" the formerly green and mighty one asked.

"A fungee," Thor said, with a sad smile.fungee (Pulaar) when someone is so hungry they fail to notice who is at the meal. When they belatedly ask, where’s X? Everyone laughs and says 'a fungee'. "The panahiyabhadra has him in custody." Panahiyabhadra (Hindi) A person who has lost all the hair on his head after being beaten by shoes.

"Oh," Banner replied, and then he put a hand up to his head and ran his fingers through his tousled curls. His expression remained befuddled. He blinked. "Someone hit Fury with shoes? I... must have missed that."

"Does the pana po'o help?" Thor asked politely.  Pana po’o (Hawaiian) To scratch your head in order to help you to remember something you’ve forgotten. It had not been so very long since the man had shrunk down to himself. He still had karelu around his waist, Thor suspected. Karelu (Tulu Indian) The mark left on the skin by wearing anything tight. "Do you now recall how the mighty one called Loki a sitzpinkler Sitzpinkler (German)Slang for “wimp,” literally translated as “a man who sits to pee” and made him run la course à l’échalotte?"La course à l’échalotte (French)To hold somebody by the collar and by the seat of the pants and force him to run. 

Stark, the tiny kæk Kæk (Danish) Cocky, adventurous, with a gung-ho spirit. Unlike the English word “cocky,” it usually has a positive connotation. man who expressed his meraki Meraki (Greek)The word is close to ardor, but is exclusively used when referring to one’s own creations. When making something, and really loving what you do, putting all your effort and creativity into it, you can be said to be doing it with meraki  with his armor, looked up from his meal and waved at Thor. "Tish, that was French."

The captain who had fought at Thor's side looked up blearily. "I understand French, but who's Tish?"

Stark grinned and made pretoogjes.  Pretoogjes (Dutch)Literally, ‘fun-eyes’. The eyes of a chuckling person who is up to benign mischief. "Morticia Addams. Sweet lady, a lot like Natasha. I'll get Jarvis to show her to you." Stark was pihentagyú Pihentagyú (Hungarian)This adjective literally means “ of/with a relaxed brain” and it’s used to describe people who like to come up with very sophisticated jokes, too tiring and complicated for most other people (and which presumably require a rather too relaxed brain). which was tiring in small doses, and irritating in large ones. 

Natasha's shield-brother, the one they called Hawkeye, did vovohe tahtsenaotse, Vovohe tahtsenaotse(Cheyenne) To prepare the mouth before speaking by moving or licking one’s lips.but then apparently thought better of it and continued silently making a pattern of culaccini. Culaccino (Italian) Marks left on a table by a moist glass. No doubt he was indulging in swadge.Swadge (Orcadian) The rest in between courses or during a meal to let your food digest and create space to continue eating.

Natasha allowed Hawkeye to lean against her. Thor may have been mistaken, but he thought he saw mamihlapinatapei pass between them.  Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan -indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) – 'The wordless, yet meaningful, look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start.'

"French?" Thor said as he scooped greens and meat onto his pålegg. Pålegg (Norwegian) Anything you can put on a slice of bread. What is this French?"

Most of the people around the table stopped even pretending to eat, turning their attention to Thor. He felt a little as if he had committed sgiomlaireachd. Sgiomlaireachd (Scottish Gaelic) When people rudely interrupt you at meal time. Or perhaps he had a tinga'.  Tinga’ (Iban) Shred, splinter, especially food stuck between teeth. He coughed and checked as unobtrusively as he could.

Banner casually reached over to Stark's plate and took a handful of the fried sliced roots. Thor averted his eyes from the engili. Engili (Telugu) The state of food when a person has taken/tasted a bite or morsel out of it. It is mildly taboo for Hindus to eat another person’s ‘engili’. Stark actually seemed pleased by Banner's action. Thor did not understand Midgardian customs at all. They became upset when he politely expressed his kefi Kefi (Greek)The spirit of joy, passion, enthusiasm, high spirits, or frenzy. The custom of smashing plates is considered an expression of kefi, when the soul and body are overwhelmed with an exuberance that must find an outlet. and suilk Suilk (Scots) The act of swallowing food with an abnormal amount of noise. A noisy eater.  had made Jane wince, but Doctor Selvig had encouraged him to toguk. Togok (Malay) To drink from a bottle in huge gulps.

"The language you were speaking," Natasha said. Despite the food being xiang Xiang (Chinese)Aromatic, delicious, rich, and succulent. Xiang is used to describe something loaded with flavor, as when butter is used in cooking. Or if something smells very nice, it is described as Xiang. she seemed merely to toy with it. Perhaps she was experiencing orka. Orka (Swedish) To not have the ability/energy to be able to do [something] any longer It had after all been a very long døgn for a mortal. Døgn (Danish). A period of 24 hours (as distinguished from a day which is only the daylight hours). 

"Was I not speaking Midgardian? I am a little dépayser, I freely admit such, but the All Speak should still be with me." Dépayser (French)The feeling of not being in one’s home country. Disorientation due to experience of unfamiliar surroundings. A sense in which one is 'a fish out of water'.

"Midgardian?" Captain Rogers straightened. "You do know that we have more than one language on Earth, don't you?"

"At last count, over six thousand," Banner said, mumbling as he took a bite and then did pelinti. Pelinti (Buli) To move very hot food around inside one’s mouth.

"Ah." Thor shrugged. "The yoko meshi has always been a problem for me."Yoko meshi (Japanese) Literally, “horizontal rice” or “a meal eaten sideways.” This is how the Japanese define the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language: yoko is a humorous reference to the fact that Japanese is normally written vertically, whereas most foreign languages are written horizontally. He sighed. "Loki has always been cazzimma Cazzimma (Italian, Neapolitan dialect) Opportunistic cunning and ruthlessness; the resolute attitude of those who are shrewd and confident that they know how to get by, and are happy to harm others in order to do so.  People who will always act to their own advantage. but he has a great sprachgefühl Sprachgefühl(German) “Feeling for language” Aptitude for it, comfort with it, and talent at learning it. and was always the one to speak for us when we journeyed to other realms." He sighed again. He felt an uneasy mixture of emotions, pena ajena for Loki's actions Pena Ajena (Spanish) Shame experienced on behalf of another person, even though that person may not experience shame. and natsukashii Natsukashii (Japanese)Can be used to express a longing for the past. It connotes both happiness for the fondness of that memory and goodness of that time, as well as sadness that it is no longer.  for the brother he remembered. He would put that aside and be Ilunga. Ilunga Tshiluba (Southwest Congo) – The nature of a person ready to forgive and forget any first abuse, tolerate it the second time, but never forgive nor tolerate the third offense. His relationship with Loki was khalas. Khalas (Arabic)Something completely and irrevocably done, finished, and over. "Well," he said, "this hygge Hygge (Danish)Spending a calm, comfortable time with good friends or loved ones, often while enjoying good food, snacks and something to drink. is very pleasant but I would not wish us to become seigneur-terraces." Seigneur-terraces (French) Café customers who spend a lot of time at a table but little money.

"I've got it covered," Stark said. He extracted a small flat shiny black card from his pocket. The woman who had served them came over with a thin slip of paper. Stark grinned at her and took the paper and a writing implement from her. He glanced down at the bottom and added a few zeroes to the total before signing it and handing her the card. "You have a great place here. I'll be sure to recommend it to all my friends." The woman looked wide-eyed at the paper, then smiled and nodded before handling the bill and returning Stark's card to him.

Thor was slightly uncomfortable being a zechpreller. Zechpreller (German)A person who leaves a restaurant or bar without paying the bill. When he came back to Midgard, he would have to see about exchanging currency. It was all very well having Stark play spesenritter Spesenritter (German) Literally translated as an “expense knight”. At a dinner or other social situation, it is a person who shows off by paying the bill with their firm’s money. but one could not be a guest forever, and he was not a prince here, to expect being feted as his right.

"Ok, kids," Stark said, standing up and going over to pat Banner on the shoulder. "Back to my place. You know, that big, ugly building?" He made a face. "It's a bit ventilated in the penthouse, but hey, the bar's intact!"

"I just want a quiet place to nap," Banner said. 

"I could go for that," Rogers admitted. Clint waved a hand in vague agreement.

"Fine! There are beds, too, for the party poopers among us."

Thor glanced around. He felt the conmoción. Conmoción (Spanish)Emotion held in common by a group or gathering. He did not wish to part from his battle-mates so soon. "Tomorrow I must take Loki back to Asgard. Tonight I wish to stammtish Stammtisch (German) A social gathering of friends, specifically at a bar, to talk about life. and tell istories me arkoudes Istories me arkoudes."(Greek) Literally “stories with bears”. Refers to narrated events so wild and crazy it seems that they can’t possibly be true.

"Um. You got it." Stark tilted his head and gave Thor a tired grin. "I have no idea what I've just agreed to."

"Tuko pamoja," Thor said. Tuko pamoja (Swahili)'We are together.' Denotes a shared sense of purpose and motivation in a group. It transcends mere agreement, and implies empathetic understanding among the members of the group. Since words were eluding him, Thor waited until everyone was standing to put his arms around as many of them as he could reach. "We shall go to the Bausünde. Bausünde (German) An architectural eyesore (literally: “construction sin”). and forge the bonds of brotherhood."

"Yeah," Stark said. "That sounds good." 

Natasha slipped from under Thor's arm and went over to Clint, who was leaning slightly to his left. She nudged him until he put an arm over her shoulders. "I like beer," she said. "Do you have beer, Stark?"

"Do I have beer? What, are you trying to insult me?" Stark paused. "Actually, I don't think so, but we can pick some up on the way. Come on, Bruce." Stark tugged at Banner's arm. 

Thor kept his arm around Rogers, who already looked asleep on his feet. They wandered, waveringly outside, in pairs. Thor could see part of Stark's tower from where he stood. It really was an ugly building. 

"The name's gone," Rogers remarked as they began walking.

"Eh," Stark said, "It's still got the A. I can work with that. Rename it. Amazing. Awesome. Something like that."

Rogers smiled slightly. "Avengers?"

"Huh. Well, maybe. That doesn't sound too bad." Stark glanced at Thor. "But I'm only putting it on once, Thor. The building's not big enough for six thousand translations."

"Five thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine," Banner murmured without opening his eyes. "At a first order approximation."

"Finally, someone who speaks English," Stark said.


End file.
